NY, new friends, and NyQuil

Well this week has found us on a great adventure armed with kleenex, cough drops, and lots of hot lemon tea. Yes, flu season has found us. It's probably a combo of the cold and being so sleep deprived from having a blast last week. Allow me to explain...

Last week our team headed to NY again, this time to a little town called Smithtown, for a YWAM conference with two other teams at the Metro base. The other teams were from Pittsburg and Manhattan. It was such a great experience for me because I got to befriend a whole bunch of awesome people with the added bonus of meeting some who were from other countries. In all, I think that 11 countries were represented: the netherlands, switzerland, the gambia, france, ireland, england, columbia, pakistan, canada, korea, and of course all over the USA. That's what I love about YWAM, making life long friends from places all over the world. This NY experience was set around teachings about the Holy Spirit, basically we followed the same type of class schedule, just in a new place. We spent a week discussing the nature and character of the Holy Spirit and why He's so misunderstood within the church. It was a very eye-opening time for me because there is a lot about Him that I never understood before (or even knew that I needed to understand). The sleep deprivation part came from staying up late talking about how amazing God is or how animal noises are represented differently in other countries over Oreos and milk.

On friday, we said some goodbyes then spent the rest of the day sight-seeing which introduced me to my first subway ride, on which i felt like the biggest tourist ever with my large camera snapping shots of EVERYTHING. We rode the Staten Island Ferry as well which was...very ferry-like.

This week, we have a new speaker who chose to teach about "Offense-Proofing Your Life" with side teachings on (once again) The Holy Spirit! This time more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and what their purposes are. So far during this DTS God has continuously been showing me more about myself and the wrong ways I have thought for so long that need correction, mostly in relation to my interaction/understanding of Him. Besides that, He has also helped me understand more about my relationships with other people and why some of them need healing or why I need to pass on what I've learned to them. For one thing, I think the church in America would grow and thrive so much if people began to understand God's grace is meant to be accepted and then passed on. Too many times we get caught up in the cycle of looking for perfection within an imperfect world. We love being saved by grace, but struggle to extend grace. One thing we were taught is that often the closer you get to God, the more offenses from others you will have to deal with. If we want to be like Jesus we need to go through what He went through with the same amount of love for other people that He displayed. Impossible? Yes. On our own human understanding, but that's the point of relying on God right?

I thank you all so much for your prayers and support! I would like to ask specifically for prayers on our health right now, almost all of us have some type of cough, sniffle, or other various annoyance. Also in the general subject of safety as we get closer to our outreach date. I look forward to the upcoming holiday break when I can talk face to face with many of you!

much love,
amanda

Sidenote for now...Please Vote!

I could write a very long entry about the last couple weeks-so sorry I have not kept this more updated, but I don't usually have too much time to use computers here...they keep us busy-but I think I will save a lot of that for later because there has been a more pressing matter on my heart lately. If you read the earlier entry you know that in New York our eyes and hearts were opened more to understanding God's heart about abortion. Well in light of these upcoming elections, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this. There is a definite distinction that has become apparent between the two candidates that has really been bothering me. It's becoming more and more clear how important tomorrow will be.

Today, my fellow students and I had a time of intercession by ourselves and we ended up praying for the elections the whole time. I've had the abortion issue heavy on my heart today, and one of the other girls brought up the topic of homosexuality. We've found that it's very clear in the Bible how God deals with sins such as these, and if that's not enough evidence for you, pay attention to what is happening to our country! We spent a large portion of our time together confessing the sins of the nation and praying for God's forgiveness to come once again. We also prayed against the strongholds of deception that are so prevalent in America right now. It's really scary. We've been praying that other believers would all join and pray with one heart for America today and tomorrow.

I also found a chapter in Psalms today that's been my prayer all day. It's Psalms 33, and it talks about how mighty and powerful God is. He holds the world in His hands, frustrates the plans of the nations, stands for what is good and just, and rescues us according to His unfailing love. We can put our hope in Him! This is comforting for me right now. We all have an idea of which candidate would best carry out God's will if elected. We pray for this candidate, but in the end God can use whomever He chooses.

So remember to pray without ceasing today and tomorrow. Research well whom you vote for, but in the end rest in God's sovereignty and trust that our hope is not in man, but in the God who created man.

(more about the past two weeks will be coming, because that's all great too)